Sqwertz wrote:

> What else would you call these private corporations set up to
> certify your products kosher for large, reoccurring fees, or else be
> subjected to a boycott by the Jewish community?

Jews are only a tiny percentage of the customer base that prefer to
purchase kosher foods. It has nothing to do with religion, it's that
it's an independent and recurring inspection of the production
facilities of these food manufacturers by trusted organizations.

It's profitable to the food manufacturers to have the kosher
certification because it greatly increases their sales volumes to
non-jews, generating far more money than the small cost of
certification. It also lowers prices for the consumer when the
manufacturer is able to sell in higher volumes.

If there were another type of certification that provided similar
assurances of production quality then that would probably be equally
acceptable to consumers, but the certification process wouldn't be any
cheaper, i.e. organic certification.

> If it was truly for religious reasons, wouldn't it be done on a
> volunteer basis as an act of goodwill?

No. Doing these inspections is a full time job.

> There doesn't seem to be any basis for these arbitrary dietary laws
> in the first place, except to keep you aware of your faith and the
> threat of going to hell if you don't obey these laws.

Some of them are arbitrary, some had a basis that no longer exists, some
have a basis that still exists. Hell has nothing to do with it.

But of course you probably knew all of this anyway.